Are privilege and oppression divisive concepts? An assessment of college students’ perspectives

Abstract

This paper explores students’ perspectives on divisive concepts. Divisive concepts is a term recently used by legislators to describe coursework and training that address the experiences of race, gender, and sexuality among marginalized groups from the perspective of systemic oppression and marginalization. Federal, state, and local leaders have moved to regulate the discussion of these concepts in U.S. classrooms and workplaces. Legislators argue that these concepts lead to negative feelings of guilt, blame, and discomfort for students—specifically White students. Recent research suggests that these legislative challenges have impacted classroom instruction. Some states have also attempted to regulate divisive concepts in higher education, but there is little evidence of this concern among college students. This study focuses on the following research questions: “How do college students perceive divisive concepts like privilege and oppression? What are the key predictors of these attitudes?” To address these questions, I collected opinion data from college students in introductory American Government courses from 2022 to 2024 (n = 2487). The findings suggest that, in general, college students support discussions of divisive concepts but note the difficult environment it may create. The data show that student attitudes vary across demographic groups.